Maryland Man Convicted in Attack
Against Two Men in Northeast Washington- Defendant Later Pointed a Loaded Semi-Automatic Pistol at Police -

WASHINGTON - Emmanuel W. Guzeh, 26, of Hyattsville, Md., has been convicted by a jury of charges stemming from an attack against two men in Northeast Washington, as well as assaulting a police officer afterward, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced today.

Guzeh was convicted on May 3, 2012, following a five-day trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia of charges of assault with intent to commit robbery while armed, kidnapping while armed, assaulting a police officer while armed, and related weapons offenses. He is to be sentenced July 9, 2012 by the Honorable Lynn Leibovitz.

According to the government’s evidence at trial, just before midnight on October 7, 2010, Guzeh and a group of armed accomplices approached two men in Northeast Washington as the men were getting into a car. The assailants attempted to rob both victims at gunpoint, repeatedly pistol-whipping them and trying to break into the trunk of the vehicle. During the attack, Guzeh walked one victim at gunpoint to a nearby apartment, where the victim managed to escape.

When police arrived, the assailants got into two different cars. Guzeh was in a silver Chevy Malibu with North Carolina tags that led officers on a high-speed chase through the city. Police finally lost sight of the car, but less than 15 minutes later, Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Officer Thomas Caddell saw the vehicle re-enter Washington, D.C. from Maryland.

Officer Caddell pursued the car until the driver crashed into a dumpster behind an apartment building in the 4900 block of Benning Road SE. Guzeh fled from the passenger side of the car. As Officer Caddell pursued him, Guzeh turned and pointed a loaded semi-automatic pistol at the officer. Guzeh then fled into a wooded area, but was caught just over 30 minutes later hiding in bushes in a nearby yard.

A search of Guzeh’s car revealed duct tape, flex-cuffs, a .357 revolver, two boxes of ammunition, and a bullet-resistant vest. Later that night, officers also found just over $2,000 worth of heroin, as well as cocaine and oxycodone, in the trunk of the car that Guzeh and his accomplices targeted. Based on the discovery of these narcotics, a Superior Court jury found the victim who owned the car guilty of unlawful possession with intent to distribute heroin and related charges during the same week as Guzeh’s trial.< /p>

In announcing the verdict, U.S. Attorney Machen praised the outstanding work of MPD Detectives Jeffrey Dixon, Randal Parker, and William Talbert III, and Officer Thomas Caddell. U.S. Attorney Machen also thanked Paralegal Specialists Theresa Nelson and Phaylyn Hunt, and Litigation Support Specialists Leif Hickling, Tracy Van Atta, and Joseph Calvarese. Finally, he thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys David Gorman and Holly Shick, both of whom indicted and prosecuted the case.